Hemp seeds could be released to Kentucky soon

Hemp seeds could be released by federal officials to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture by Thursday as disagreements between the state and U.S. officials appear resolved.

The state agriculture department, as of Tuesday, is registered with the Drug Enforcement Administration to import controlled substances and was in the process Wednesday of getting a permit for the 250-pound shipment that has been held at Louisville International Airport for more than a week by order of the DEA.

The delay prompted the Kentucky department to sue the DEA and other federal agencies to get the seed released in time to be planted by June 1 for eight pilot projects. Those efforts, authorized under this year’s Farm Bill, would be Kentucky’s first hemp crop in decades.

“We’ve now worked out a process and, thus far, things are going very well,” said Holly VonLuehrte, the general counsel for the agriculture department. “It’s a much less adversarial process now. ... I’m hopeful that we’ll have this fully resolved.”

There was essentially one issue — relating to the permit — remaining to be discussed during a hearing Wednesday before U.S. District Senior Judge John G. Heyburn II, who has acted largely as a mediator in the lawsuit.

That issue was a line on the DEA form for registrants to indicate how much seed went where. An attorney for the DEA agreed that Kentucky officials could submit a “not to exceed” number for each of the pilot projects rather than specific amounts.

Agriculture department attorneys said it would be difficult to give exact numbers now because they only know what they ordered — not necessarily what they received — and decisions on allotting the shipment are still being made.

Heyburn agreed with the use of a “not to exceed” figure, “as long as they (the agriculture department) keep accurate records.”

VonLuehrte said the department, universities and growers will need to keep accurate records anyway because the pilot projects are research efforts.

Separately, the state industrial hemp commission met Tuesday to approve regulations that would govern Kentucky hemp. The regulations would take effect immediately upon Gov. Steve Beshear’s signature.

But VonLuehrte said the regulations weren’t an issue for the universities or the three other growers that have signed memorandums of understanding with the state agriculture department. The agreement makes the three non-university growers extensions of the agriculture department and they are working with the universities, she said.

The hearing was a follow-up to one on Friday before Heyburn where Kentucky agriculture officials agreed to apply for a federal permit to obtain the detained hemp seeds.

The seeds have been detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at Louisville International Airport for several days at the request of the DEA.

The Agriculture Department has argued the farm bill trumps other regulations that would limit growing hemp in the pilot projects, but agriculture officials have said they are willing to file for the permit if it means the projects can proceed.

A spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has taken credit for getting the hemp language in the Farm Bill, said the senator would be meeting with DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart on Wednesday to discuss the agency’s actions in Kentucky.

Reporter Gregory A. Hall can be reached at (502) 582-4087. Follow him on Twitter at @gregoryahall.